Our Fees

The fee for conveyancing matters will vary matter to matter. You will be given a ‘Costs Estimate’ depending on the price of the property you are purchasing or selling and whether it is a leasehold property etc. We will be as transparent as possible and if the matter becomes substantially more complex due to factors that arise during our work then we shall advise you accordingly as to any extra charges you may incur both by way of fees or disbursements.

Please see below for our estimated conveyancing charges.  This estimated charge also does not include any disbursements or Stamp Duty Land Tax – please see further on for more information on these charges.

Our estimated fee assumes that:

1. This is a standard transaction and that no unforeseen matters arise including for example (but not limited to) a defect in title which requires remedying prior to completion or the preparation of additional documents ancillary to the main transaction;
2. In the case of leases – this is the assignment of an existing lease and is not the grant of a new lease – for which more work is required;
3. The transaction is concluded in a timely manner and no unforeseen complication arise;
4. All parties to the transaction are co-operative and there is no unreasonable delay from third parties providing documentation;
5. No indemnity policies are required. Additional disbursement may apply if indemnity policies are required.

Purchase of a Freehold Residential Property

Our estimated legal fees cover all the legal work required to complete the purchase of your new home, including dealing with registration at the Land Registry and dealing with the payment of Stamp Duty Land Tax (‘Stamp Duty’) if the property you wish to buy is in England, or Land Transaction Tax (‘Land Tax’) if the property you wish to buy is in Wales.

Indication of our Legal Fees (not including Stamp Duty/Land Tax or Disbursements):

*Please note that there will be an additional charge of £50 plus VAT (£60.00 inc VAT) for dealing with a Help to Buy ISA

Disbursements & Stamp Duty/Land Tax

‘Disbursements’ are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as Land Registry fees.  We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process. The list below is not exhaustive and other disbursements may apply.  Stamp Duty or Land Tax depends on the price of your property.  You can calculate the amount you will need to pay by using the HMRC’s website – www.tax.service.gov.uk/calculate-stamp-duty-land-tax – or if the property is located in Wales by using the Welsh Revenue Authority’s website – https://beta.gov.wales/land-transaction-tax-calculator

Disbursements on a typical Purchase of a Freehold Residential Property:

How long will my house purchase take?

How long it will take from your offer being accepted until you can move into your house will depend on a number of factors. The average process takes between 8-12 weeks.

It can be quicker or slower depending on the parties in the chain. For example, if you are a first-time buyer, purchasing a new build property with a mortgage in principle, it could take 8 weeks.

However, if you are buying a leasehold property that requires an extension of the lease, this can take significantly longer, possibly between 2 and 6 months. In such a situation additional charges would apply.

Stages of the process

The precise stages involved in a purchase of a residential property vary according to the circumstances. However, these are some key stages:

• Take your instructions and give you initial advice;
• Check finances are in place to fund purchase and contact the lender’s solicitors if needed;
• Receive and advise on contract documents;
• Carry out searches;
• Obtain further planning documentation if required;
• Make any necessary enquiries of the seller’s solicitor;
• Give you advice on all of the documents and information received;
• Go through the conditions of your mortgage offer with you;
• Send final contract to you for signature;
• Agree completion date (the date from which you will own the property);
• Exchange contracts and notify you that this has happened;
• Arrange for all monies needed to be received from lender and you;
• Complete purchase;
• Deal with Stamp Duty/Land Tax;
• Deal with application for registration at the Land Registry.

If you would like any clarification on the stages of the process do not hesitate to speak to the fee earner dealing with your matter.

Purchase of a Leasehold Residential property:

Disbursements on Leasehold

There are certain disbursements which will be set out in the individual lease relating to the property. The disbursements which we anticipate will apply are set out below.  This list is not exhaustive and other disbursements may apply depending on the term of the lease.  We will update you on the specific fees upon receipt and review of the lease from the seller’s solicitors.

Disbursements on a typical Purchase of a Leasehold Residential Property:

Anticipated Disbursements:

Please note that these fees will vary from property to property and can on occasion be significantly more than the ranges given above. We can give you an accurate figure once we have sight of your specific documents.

You should also be aware that ground rent and service charge are likely to apply throughout your ownership of the property. We will confirm the ground rent and the anticipated service charge as soon as we receive this information.

Sale of a Freehold Residential Property

Our estimated legal fees cover all the legal work required to complete the sale of your property.

Indication of our Legal Fees (not including Disbursements or VAT):

Disbursements

The disbursements which we anticipate will apply are set out below.  This list below is not exhaustive and other disbursements may apply.

Disbursements on a typical Sale of a Freehold Residential Property:

How long will my sale take

How long it will take from acceptance of your buyer’s offer until completion will depend on a number of factors. The average process takes between 8-12 weeks.

It can be quicker or slower depending on the parties in the chain. For example, if you have an onward purchase, or your buyer has a related sale (or even both). It will also depend on whether you, or anyone else in the chain, require a mortgage.

However, if you are selling a leasehold property that requires an extension/variation of the lease, this can take significantly longer, possibly between 2 and 6 months. In such a situation additional charges would apply.

Stages of the process

The precise stages involved in a sale of a residential property vary according to the circumstances. However, these are some key stages:

• Take your instructions and give you initial advice;
• Obtain title documentation from the Land Registry. If the Property is unregistered, then we will prepare an Epitome of Title;
• If the Property is subject to an existing mortgage, communicate with the mortgage lender and obtain an up to date settlement figure;
• Prepare contract documents, and forward the same to the buyer’s solicitors for consideration;
• Take your instructions as necessary, and respond to any enquiries raised by the buyer’s solicitors;
• Send final contract to you for signature;
• Agree completion date (the date you will move out of the property);
• Exchange contracts and notify you that this has happened;
• Arrange for any final settlement figures to be obtained from any existing mortgage or loan companies;
• Complete sale;
• Repay any existing mortgages/loans secured against the property, and arrange the removal of their legal charge from the property title;

If you would like any clarification on the stages of the process do not hesitate to speak to the fee earner dealing with your matter.

Sale of a Leasehold Residential Property:

Disbursements

The disbursements which we anticipate will apply are set out below.  This list below is not exhaustive and other disbursements may apply.

Disbursements on a typical sale of a Leasehold Residential Property:

Anticipated Disbursements:

Re-Mortgage of your Property

Disbursements

The disbursements which we anticipate will apply are set out below.  This list below is not exhaustive and other disbursements may apply.

Disbursements on a typical Re-Mortgage:

If the Re-Mortgage is for a Leasehold property then there will be extra disbursements payable for instance:

How long will my Re-Mortgage take?

This depends on a number of factors. The average process takes between 4-6 weeks.

It can be quicker or slower depending on how soon the Mortgage Lender issues their mortgage offer to us, and whether they are happy to accept search insurance, or if they require full property searches to be carried out.

However, if you are Re-Mortgaging a leasehold property then we will need to obtain a leasehold information pack from the Freeholder/Management Company, and this usually takes at least 2 weeks to be issued following receipt of payment.

If an extension/variation of the lease is required, then the transaction could be significantly longer, possibly between 2 and 6 months. In such a situation additional charges would apply.

Stages of the process

The precise stages involved in a Re-Mortgage of a residential property vary according to the circumstances. However, these are some key stages:

• Take your instructions and give you initial advice;
• Obtain title documentation from the Land Registry. If the Property is unregistered, then obtain the title deeds and investigate ownership;
• If the Property is subject to an existing mortgage, communicate with the mortgage lender and obtain an up to date settlement figure;
• Carry out searches as required by the Mortgage Lender;
• Obtain further planning and building regulations documentation if you have altered the property;
• Go through the conditions of your mortgage offer with you;
• Send final documents to you for signature;
• Agree completion date;
• Arrange for any final settlement figures to be obtained from any existing mortgage or loan companies;
• Arrange for all monies needed to be received from lender and you;
• Complete Re-Mortgage;
• Repay any existing mortgages/loans secured against the property, and arrange the removal of their legal charge from the property title;
• Deal with application for registration at Land Registry.

If you would like any clarification on the stages of the process do not hesitate to speak to the fee earner dealing with your matter.

Employment Fees

Employment advice – employers and employees

We offer a number of pricing solutions on employment matters subject to the nature of a case and the complexity of the matter.

You may already benefit from ‘legal expense insurance’ that may cover some or all of the costs that will need to be incurred. We will check this with you at our initial appointment and advise you further should that appear to be the case.

If you do not benefit from such insurance, our costs are calculated on the basis of how long we spend dealing with your matter which, by its very nature, is difficult to predict at the outset.

Solicitors costs

Costs will vary from matter to matter depending on the nature and complexity of a dispute, the instructions you give to us and the work that you wish for us to carry out and the speed with which we are able to bring about a resolution of the dispute.

Factors outside of our control will often have a material impact on the work that we carry out and the speed with which we can bring your case to a conclusion. Factors that affect time taken and complexity may include;

• The stage at which we are instructed – if we are instructed some way into a dispute then it will be necessary to carefully consider the documentation relating to past progress before providing you with advice and that can be time-consuming in the first instance;
• The nature of a dispute;
• The number of parties involved in a dispute;
• The extent of the allegations being made by an employee in relation to the dispute;
• Whether witness evidence is necessary and, if so, the number of witnesses who have to give evidence;
• The approach taken by the other party/parties involved in your dispute and whether they are a litigant in person;

• Whether tribunal proceedings are necessary;

• Whether any applications are made during the course of the tribunal proceedings;
• The willingness of either side to take part in ‘Alternative Dispute Resolution’ (ADR);
• Whether Counsel will be required to carry out any of the work necessary to conclude the claim;
• The extent of your communication you require with ourselves during the course of the case – extensive communication will always be more time consuming than communication that is limited to that which is strictly necessary to the case. We are always happy to discuss any concerns but emphasise the impact this can have in terms of time scales and costs.

We will take initial instructions and, based on the information provided, we will provide an estimate of the likely costs in addition to any ‘disbursements’ (see below) that we anticipate you will need to incur. That estimate will be reviewed periodically as the case progresses, as and when material factors require us to revise the estimate. At the same time as providing the initial estimate, we will advise you on how long your matter is likely to take.

Once work has commenced, we will bill you on a periodic basis so that you are kept up to date on the costs incurred and will inform you as soon as possible should our overall estimate as to the likely costs need to be revised.

The cost of us advising you in a claim before the Tribunal are based on an hourly rate of between £185.00 and £285.00 (£222.00 to £342.00 inc VAT), depending on the fee earner dealing with the work. Your case will be allocated to a person with the suitable professional experience to conduct your matter. For information on the experience and qualifications of our fee earners please see the Our Team page.

The anticipated fees involved in, for example, an unfair dismissal claim, based on the complexity of the matter, are as follows:

• simple case: £5,000.00 – £12,000.00 (£6,000.00 – £14,400.00 inc VAT)
• medium case: £12,000.00 – £21,000.00 (£14,400.00 – £25,200.00 inc VAT)
• complicated case: £21,000.00 – £30,000.00 (£25,200.00 – £36,000.00 inc VAT)

These are estimates only. Many cases can be settled within a few weeks or even very shortly after we are first instructed, and so the fees are often limited. That is very unpredictable and negotiations can of course take longer and, in some cases where we are entering into negotiations, those negotiations can go on for months. This is something which is not in our control as it will largely be governed by how quickly your employer/their representative responds to communications.

Disbursements

‘Disbursements’ are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties and not to ourselves. Those disbursements which are not included in our fees may include;

• Fees for obtaining formal reports from experts or fees for incurring advice from experts;
• Translators’ fees;
• Interpreters’ fees;
• Counsel’s fees for attending hearings or drafting documents if required
• Credit agency search fees;
• Process handlers’ fees;
• Fees associated with any significant administrative work such as photocopying fees or courier’s fees;

If a final hearing is attended then advocacy will be provided by a Barrister. We would expect Barrister’s fees to be £1,500.00 – £3,000.00 (£1,800.00 – £3,600.00 inc VAT) per day. A Barrister may be required to advise on the merits of your claim at an earlier state. While it would be necessary to obtain a fee estimate before instructing a Barrister, we would expect the Barrister’s fees for advising on the merits of a claim to be in the region of £1,500.00 (£1,800.00 inc VAT).

The service provided

CVC offer a comprehensive service to our clients which will include the following key stages of a claim:

• Taking initial instructions, reviewing documentation and advising you;
• Preparing a claim;
• Reviewing and advising on the response from the other party;
• Exploring settlement possibilities throughout the claim;
• Preparing or considering a schedule of loss;
• Preparing for a preliminary hearing;
• Exchanging documents with the other party;
• Taking witness statements, drafting and then agreeing them with witnesses;
• Preparing bundles of documents and case summaries for hearings;
• Reviewing and advising on the other party’s evidence;
• Preparing and attending final hearing, including instructing Counsel;

These stages are listed by way of example and, if some of those stages are not included, the fee will be reduced. You may wish for us to simply advise you on some stages of the claim and to handle the majority of it yourself. This can be arranged depending on your individual needs.

Settlement agreements

We charge £250.00 – £750.00 (£300.00 – £900.00 inc VAT) to advise on a settlement agreement, depending on complexity. It is usually the case that an employer will pay the majority if not all of the costs we incur in acting in relation to settlement agreements. We will be able to advise on a more accurate basis, though, once we have discussed the background with you.